LB 2851 
.B7 
Copy 2 



STATE PUBLICATION 
OF 



SCHOOL BOOKS 



STATE PUBLICATION 
OF SCHOOL BOOKS 



BY 



JOHN FRANKLIN BROWN 

Ph.D. (Cornell) 

Sometime Professor in Education and Inspector of High 
Schools for the State University of Iowa; Professor of 
Education and Principal of the Normal School in the 
University of Wyoming; Exchange Teacher of English 
in a Prussian Oberrealschule, Franckesche Stiftungen, 
Halle a. Saale; Instructor of Secondary Education in 
Teachers College, Columbia University, summer session; 
Lecturer in Education in Vassar College and in Wellesley 
College. Author of The American High School and The 
Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools in Germany and 
the United States. Editor of Educational Books, The 
Macmillan Company. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 
64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



9>^ 

1? 



V^\ 



Copyright, 1915, 
By JOHN FRANKLIN BROWN 



©CLA414868 

DEC 2 1915 



CONTENTS 

I. Introduction. — The State is justified in taking over 
and managing any public service if thereby 

A. The expense is substantially reduced 

B. The service is materially improved 

C. There are no serious objectionable general con- 

sequences 

II. Argument. 

A. Expense 

1. Factors that determine the price of a book 

a. Manufacturing cost 

b. Overhead charges 

c. Royalty 

d. Publisher's profit 

2. Cost of books published by the State 

a. Ontario 

b. California 

c. Georgia 

d. Kansas 

B. Service 

1. Mechanical features of books 

2. Pedagogical features of books 

3. Delivery of books to pupils 

4. Changing to a better book 

5. Limitation to a single text 

C. General Consequences 

1. State ownership 

2. Efficiency 

3. School interests and political emergencies 

4. Professional spirit of teachers 

5. Authorship and competitive publishing 

enterprise 

6. Cost versus quality in education. 

III. Conclusion. 

A. Expense 

B. Service 

C. Consequences 



Part of the material of this study was first 
given as an address before an educational club 
of Columbia University, and later as a lecture 
at the summer session of Teachers College. An 
abstract of it appeared in "School and Society 19 
for October #, 1915. It contains significant in- 
formation concerning the experience of three 
states in which the publication of school books 
by the state has been either tried or considered 
and rejected. So many requests for the data 
contained in it have been received by the author 
that it has been printed in revised and enlarged 
form with the hope that it may be of service in 
the consideration of an important educational 
problem. 



STATE PUBLICATION 

OF 

SCHOOL BOOKS 

The state is justified in taking over and managing any 
public service — for example, the postal service, railroads, 
telegraph, telephone, or the making of school books — if 
thereby 

A. The expense is substantially reduced; 

B. The service is materially improved; 

C. There are no objectionable general consequences. 

Expense 

The factors that determine the selling price of a book 
made by a publisher — that is, under the competitive plan 
— are as follows: 

1. Manufacturing cost — editing, type-setting, author's 
corrections, plates, illustrations, engraving, paper, print- 
ing, and binding. 

2. Overhead charges — interest on investment, deprecia- 
tion of plates, depreciation of plant, salaries of office force 
and field agents, storage, insurance, taxes, transportation, 
postage, advertising, and retail dealer's profit. 

3. Royalty paid to author. 

4. Publisher's profits. 

If the state publishes its own school books there may be 
omitted from the above-named cost factors the items of 



taxes, field agents, advertising, and publisher's profits. All 
the others remain. 

It is an easy matter to theorize concerning the relative 
cost of school books when published by the state and un- 
der the competitive plan, but it is not so easy to secure 
figures that are accurate, comprehensive, and demonstra- 
bly conclusive concerning results in places where the plan 
of state publication has been tried. It is always difficult 
to discover and include all the expense justly chargeable 
to the publication of books. 

The four places in which the plan has been either 
adopted wholly or in part, or considered and rejected, 
are the Province of Ontario (Canada), California, Geor- 
gia, and Kansas. 

Ontario. The prices of some school books published 
by the government in Ontario are much lower than those 
of books intended for similar purposes in the states. The 
difference is due to several causes — to different economic 
conditions, to the fact that the government bears a con- 
siderable share of the expense of making them, to the fact 
that some of them are manufactured by department stores 
for advertising purposes and are sold at less than cost, to 
the government monopoly in their use, and to the rela- 
tively inferior character of the books. The Ontario plan 
of publication has little more than academic interest for 
people in the United States, because the conditions pre- 
vailing in Canada are so different from those existing here. 
In every case in which this plan has been considered it has 
been rejected as unsuited to American conditions. 

California. In 1884 an amendment to the constitu- 
tion, providing for the publication of textbooks by the 
state, was ratified by the people of California, and the 
following year legislation was enacted, putting the plan 
into operation. The financial side of the story may be 

2 



briefly told in the following summary of appropriations 
from 1885 to 1913: 

Original Appropriations 

1885, Feb. 26, for equipment and manufacturing $150,000.00 

" " " for compilation of textbooks 20,000.00 

Supplementary Appropriations 

1887, Mar. 15, for equipment and manufacturing 165,000.00 

" " " for compilation of textbooks 15,000.00 

" " " for deficiency in former appropriations 

(mfg.) 7,500.00 

" " " for construction of warehouse for books 10,000.00 

1889, " 14, for enlarging state printing office 11,000.00 

" " 21, for pay of employees, stock, etc., in text- 
book department 50,000.00 

1891, Apr. 6, for pay of employees, stock, etc., in text- 
book department 40,000.00 

" " " for compilation of textbooks 5,000.00 

1895, Mar. 28, for pay of employees, stock, etc., in text- 
book department 40,000.00 

1903, " 18, for expense of textbook committee 20,000.00 

" " 25, for new machinery 40,000.00 

1905, " 11, for salary of sec'y of textbook committee.. 4,125.00 

" " 18, for new machinery 35,000.00 

1909, Feb. 5, for deficit in former appropriation 479.57 

" " 22, for new machinery 50,000,00 

1911, May 1, for new machinery 14,000.00 

$677,104.57 

All of these appropriations were made from the general 
fund, that is, from the public treasury of the state. The 
proceeds derived from the sale of textbooks were consti- 
tuted a separate fund, known as the State School Book 
Fund. This was a revolving fund, used to defray the cost 
of manufacturing textbooks, and was presumed to be suffi- 
cient for that purpose. If the claims of the founders of 
the plan had been fulfilled, only the original appropria- 
tions of $170,000 would have been needed to keep the 
project going indefinitely. The supplementary appropria- 
tions were necessary because the State School Book Fund 

3 



proved to be inadequate, although, as it will appear later, 
the prices at which the state-manufactured books were sold 
to dealers were generally about the same as the publisher's 
prices to dealers for the same or similar books. Of course 
these supplementary appropriations would not have been 
necessary had the State Board fixed the prices sufficiently 
high to pay all the costs of publication. They became nec- 
essary only because in the attempt to show a saving to the 
state, the State Board, upon the advice of the State 
Printer, had priced the books lower than they had been 
able to produce them. 

In addition to the foregoing, the following increased 
cost of the State Printing Office was occasioned by its 
extension to include the printing of textbooks. It has 
been met by appropriations out of the General Fund, and 
is chargeable to state publication. 

a. Increased salary of Superintendent of State Printing* . . $24,800.00 

b. Salary of Deputy State Printer 38,400.00 

c. Insurance 10,250.00 

d. Watchman 4,800.00 

e. Salaries in office of State Superintendent of Public In- 

struction 52,000.00 

f. Investigation of corruption 5,000.00 

Total indirect appropriations $135,250.00 

Total direct appropriations 677,104.57 

Total $812,354.57 

In effect, the State of California subsidized the state 
printing plant to the amount of $812,354, in order that 

* a. By act of March 10, 1885, the salary was increased from $2,400 
to $3,000. By act of April 26, 1909, it was raised to $5,000. 

b. Deputy State Printer at $2,400 per annum since 1897-1898. 

c. Act of March 17, 1889, Act of March 21, 1901, etc. 

d. Act of April 26, 1909, watchman at $1,200 per annum. 

e. Act of March 15. 1887, clerical aid at $2,000 per annum ex- 

pressly on account of Act relating to State publication. 

f. Resolution of March 25, 1911, Senate Daily Journal, January 

29, 1913, p. 8. 

4 



it might secure its school books at a lower rate. What 
was the result? How did the prices at which textbooks 
were sold by the state to pupils compare with the prices 
at which they could have been secured from publishers 
without cost to the state? Were the expected lower prices 
realized? 

The first set of texts,* for the compilation of which the 
State of California had appropriated $40,000 from the 
general fund, were sold at more than double the prices at 
which the State Printer had originally estimated he could 
produce them. The following table shows this estimate 
and also the relative cost of books under California prices 
and publishers' prices in 1890.** 







Publishers' 




Actual 


price of 


Original 


prices 


similar 


estimate 


charged 


book to 


of State 


by State 


wholesale 


BOOKS Printer 


in 1890 


dealers 


First Reader $0.09% 


$0.15 


McGuffey's 1st Reader. .$0.13% 


Second Reader. . .18 


.33 


Harper's 2d Reader 28% 


Third Reader... .24% 


.54 


McGuffey's 5th Reader. . . .57% 


Speller 08% 


.25 




Arithmetic 28% 


Ele. .20 






Adv. .42 


Robinson's Complete, Pt. II .40 




Ele. .25 


S winton's Lang. Lessons . . .30% 




Adv. .42 




History 29% 


.70 




Ele. Geography.. .35 


.50 
$3.76 


Harper's Introductory 38% 


$1.73% 


$3.74% 



* In content these texts were so defective that they were first 
revised and then thrown out altogether. 

** A History of the State Printer's Monopoly of School Books 
in the State of California, p. 38. 



In 1890, in answer to numerous inquiries, State Super- 
intendent, Ira G. Hoitt, wrote the following open letter 
concerning the cost and other features of the project: 

State of California, 
Department of Public Instruction, 

Sacramento, Dec. 26, 1890. 



Dear Sir: 

In reply to your late inquiry concerning the publication 
of school textbooks by the State of California, I have had so 
many similar inquiries from your own and other states that I 
have concluded to make a general statement in regard to the 
practical results of our experiment in state publication of 
textbooks. 

For over four years this plan has had a fair and impartial 
trial in our state. I came into office a believer in the project, 
and every aid which I could give to its successful issue has 
been freely rendered throughout my administration. 

But now, in the light of my experience, I must acknowledge 
that results have not met my expectations. 

In the first place, the expense has been great — over four 
hundred thousand dollars having been appropriated thus far 
for the compilation of the series and the manufacture of the 
first 50,000 copies of each book. Ten books have so far been 
issued, and three more are yet to come to complete a full 
series as required by our law. 

Whatever may be the advantages claimed for state publi- 
cation by believers in a paternal plan of government, the 
result of the experiment in our state shows that it costs the 
state more to manufacture the books than it would cost a 
private publishing house — for obvious reasons. Besides this, 
there is, in a state series, a lack of spontaneity and compe- 
tition in authorship. 

When the State Board employs an author or compiler, it 
must accept and pay for his work whether it is suitable or 
not. And the supervision and compilation of series of school- 
books by a State Board, whose memberships are subject to 
frequent changes and who are already burdened with other 
duties, is attended with difficulties. 

While our State Board has been zealous and has done the 
best it could in making a state series, I regret that its efforts 
have not met the requirements of the schools or the expecta- 
tions of our leading educators, as shown by the following reso- 

6 



lution adopted at the Biennial Convention of California School 
Superintendents, held December 2 and 3, 1890. 

"Resolved, that while certain of the state textbooks, 
notably the 'Primary Language Lessons' and the 'Ele- 
mentary Geography,' have met the approval of our public- 
school teachers of the state, we desire to record our severe 
criticism and disapproval of others of the state series 
and express our judgment that their thorough revision 
by competent authors, so as to adapt them to the wants 
of the schools, is imperative and should be entered upon 
at once." 

In the light of our experience, after four years of trial, I 
am therefore compelled, with personal reluctance, to acknowl- 
edge to the comparative want of success in our California ex- 
periment in making and publishing schoolbooks. Taking into 
consideration the large appropriations made and the further 
and constant outlays for revisions, new plates, etc., the same 
number of books can be purchased in the open market at 
wholesale prices for less than it costs the state to manufacture 
them. 

I am therefore constrained to admit that I would not advise 
any other state to enter upon the publication of school books. 

Very truly yours, 

IRA G. HOITT, 
Supt. of Public Instruction. 



So high an authority in economics as Professor J. W. 
Jenks says in 1891 in an article on Schoolbook Legislation: 

The State of California at present is not saving money 
by manufacturing books, if we compare prices with those it 
might contract for, size and quality of books being considered. 
It is probably true, moreover, that selections might be made 
by any board from the books of private firms that would 
on the whole be better adapted to the work of the schools. 

A comparison of these prices will show that book pub- 
lishers will supply similar books at as good, and in some 
cases at better, rates even to school districts buying sepa- 
rately, and in some instances to individual purchasers. The 
testimony of many teachers is to the same effect, i.e., that 
nothing is saved to the pupils in money by the state series. 
—Good Citizenship, pp. 228, 232. 



PRICES PREVAILING IN 1905-06 ARE REPORTED AS 

FOLLOWS:* 



Publishers' 


Publishers' 


California 


California 


actual 


actual 


cost 


prices to 


retail 


net 


prices 


pupils from 


prices 


prices 


Sacramento 


retail 










dealers 




$0.24 


$0.19 


$0.20 


$0.25 




.28 


.22 


.24 


.29 




.36 


.29 


.28 


.35 




.50 


.40 


.42 


.50 




.60 


.48 


.49 


.60 


McClymonds & Jones' 










Elemen. Arithmetic. 


.35 


.28 


.28 


.35 


Hornbrook's Grammar 










School Arithmetic. . 


.65 


.52 


.50 


.60 


Steps in English — Bk. I 


.40 


.32 


.28 


.35 


Steps in English-Bk. II 


.60 


.48 


.46 


.55 


Thomas' Elemen. Hist. 


.60 


.48 


.45 


.55 


McMaster's Sch. Hist. 


1.00 


.80 


.81 


.95 


Tarr & McMurry's In- 










troductory Geog. . . . 


.60 


.48 


.55 


.64 


Natural Adv. Geog. . . 


1.25 


1.00 


.98 


1.20 


( 


57.43 


$5.94 


$5.94 


$7.18 



In the Sierra Educational News for October and No- 
vember, 1911, appeared an editorial, from which the fol- 
lowing extract is taken. It will be seen that the writer 
believes in free textbooks, and that his argument is di- 
rected against state publication and state uniformity of 
schoolbooks. 

The Cost of Textbooks — Since educational experience and 
educational theory both strongly sanction local adoptions and 
optional free texts, we might fairly rest the case at this point. 
But we desire to meet the advocates of state publication on 
the only point left — cost of books. Some people might be 
disposed to put up with a confessedly poor system, if it could 
be shown that such a system is cheaper than the one pro- 
posed. A system of local adoptions necessarily involves the 
purchase of books in the open market. It does away neces- 



• Journal of Education, Feb. 18, 1909. 

8 



sarily with state publication. Can books be purchased under 
local adoptions at prices comparable with those charged under 
state publication? 

A study of conditions and prices in states having local 
adoptions will prove instructive. Where boards representing 
cities or counties deal directly with publishers, the books are 
laid down to these authorities, or to dealers in non-free-text 
territory, at 20 per cent, off the list price.* In several states 
the books are laid down at the capital at 25 per cent, off the 
list price. The list price of a book is the price fixed by the 
publisher at which the book should be sold in ordinary trade 
over the dealer's counter. The list price includes the profits 
of both the jobber and the retailer. Co-operative buying 
from publishers direct cuts out these profits and makes a 
material reduction in the cost of the book to the pupil. With 
city and county adoptions in California, the books could easily 
be delivered to boards of education, or to dealers in non-free- 
text territory, at 20 per cent, off the list price. 

We are now ready for a specific comparison of prices under 
our present system of state publication with those that would 
prevail under local adoptions. California publishes six texts 
in reading and sells them to the children as follows: Primer, 
28 cents; first reader, 25 cents; second reader, 30 cents; 
third reader, 45 cents; fourth reader, 60 cents; fifth reader, 
60 cents. The total cost of the six books is $2.48. The list 
prices of the same books, as published regularly, follow: 
Aldine Primer (Newson and Co.), 32 cents; Progressive 
First Reader (Silver, Burdett & Co.), 32 cents; Brooks' 
Third Reader (American Book Co.), 40 cents; Stepping 
Stones Fourth Reader (Silver, Burdett & Co.), 60 cents; Step- 
ping Stones Fifth Reader (Silver, Burdett & Co.), 60 cents. 
The total list price of the six is $2.59. Deducting 20 per 
cent., we have $2.07, the price at which the books would be 
delivered to city and county boards, or to dealers in non- 
free-text territory. Adding 10 per cent, of the list price for 
the cost of handling by superintendents or dealers, we have 
$2.33 as the price to be paid by the children. This is 15 cents 
less than we are paying now for these books on inferior paper 
and with poor bindings. 

But someone objects that the total cost of $2.48 for the 
state readers would be materially lessened if all the graft 
could be squeezed out of the State Printing Office, and busi- 
nesslike methods introduced. This is certainly true. For- 
tunately we have the figures of the secretary of the State 
Board of Control, as expert accountant, to help us on this 
point. He furnished the senatorial investigating committee 



* The usual publisher's discount to dealers or to school boards 
in the case of an exclusive state adoption is about 25 per cent, off 
the list price, books delivered. 



with an estimate of the rightful cost of the primer and the 
first three readers as follows: primer, 24 cents; first reader, 
22 cents; second reader, 25 cents; third reader, 33 cents. This 
estimate makes a total cost of $1.04 for the four books as 
against the present price of $1.28, the difference of 24 cents 
representing the extracted graft. Under local adoptions, 
what would the four books cost our children? The list prices 
of the four total $1.39. Deducting 20 per cent, for county or 
city adoption, and adding 10 per cent, for handling, we have 
$1.25 as against the estimate of $1.04. But let us remember 
that this apparent difference of 21 cents is not based on equal 
values in paper, binding, and workmanship. It means the 
difference between books properly made and those that read- 
ily fall to pieces. It means books that will last twice as long. 
The difference in quality and lasting power probably more 
than offsets the 21 cents. Furthermore, be it remembered 
that the estimate of $1.04 is merely an estimate that rests 
upon an assumption of a businesslike administration of the 
State Printing Office — an assumption negatived by the experi- 
ence of twenty-six years. 

Exchange of Textbooks — However, let us be optimistic. 
Let us assume that the state could sell these four books at 
$1.04 without calling upon the legislature for a special appro- 
priation for the State Printing Office. Let us also waive the 
question of qualities in paper, binding, and workmanship. In 
connection with that apparent difference of 21 cents, there 
still remains another consideration which knocks the last prop 
from under a belief in the lower cost of state texts. We 
refer to the exchange of books granted by publishers under 
local adoptions. On a four years' adoption, publishers would 
grant in California an exchange price of 40 per cent, off on 
all books sold the first year of the adoption.* Figures show 
that under exchange not less than 40 per cent, of all books 
sold under a four years' contract are sold the first year and 
that 75 per cent, of these purchases are on exchange. This 
represents an average reduction of 12 per cent, on every book 
sold during the entire period of adoption. Under our plan 
of state publication there is a total loss whenever a book 
is changed. Since educational progress makes occasional 
changes in texts necessary, would it not be far better to have 
a system that would not leave the old books a dead loss to 
pupils and parents? If the book bills of some families could 
be cut 40 per cent, through the privilege of exchange, there 
would be a strong incentive to keep books against the day of 
exchange. 

Two Payments under State Publication — There still re- 
mains another important factor in the cost of textbooks that 



• The usual exchange price for the first year of an exclusive 
State adoption is about 50 per cent, on! the list price of the book. 

10 



usually is lost sight of completely. Under state publication, 
the people of California have been called upon to make an 
indirect second payment for textbooks in addition to the sums 
paid directly by parents. From the inception of state pub- 
lication to June 30, 1910, the parents in this state paid 
$2,553,824.29 directly for textbooks. No doubt the great ma- 
jority of these parents believed they were paying the entire cost 
of the books. Far from it. During the time mentioned the 
legislature made special appropriations aggregating $607,600 
to further the work of state publication. Thus, in addition 
to the sums paid directly by parents for books, we were 
obliged to add from the state treasury 23 per cent. more. 
However, the man who paid four dollars for his children's 
books did not realize that he was adding nearly another dollar 
for books in his taxes. If he had realized it, we should have 
heard from him. That realization would have shaken his 
loyalty to a professedly independent system that needs 23 per 
cent, of coddling from the state to make it go. If this parent 
were a business man, his loyalty to the system would probably 
have been completely destroyed by the consideration that if 
these special appropriations of $607,600 had been placed at 
interest at 5 per cent., they would now amount to at least 
$1,250,000, or approximately 50 per cent, of the amount paid 
by the parents. Any comparison of the cost of books under 
state publication with the cost under local adoptions that does 
not take these special appropriations into account is mani- 
festly incomplete and unfair. For, waiving the question of 
interest, these appropriations, aggregating 23 per cent, of the 
sums paid directly for the books, loom up in any honest dis- 
cussion of the subject. Though usually overlooked in textbook 
discussion, these appropriations are as big and significant as 
the Fairmont Hotel on the skyline of San Francisco. They 
are significant, first, in removing the last reasonable doubt as 
to relative costs under state publication and local adoptions. 
Secondly, because of the ease with which we lose sight of these 
appropriations! — the money of all the people rather than of 
individuals — they are significant in enforcing the necessity of 
a system of publication and adoption close to the people and 
responsive to their varying needs, before we dare commit 
ourselves to free texts. No more serious educational blunder 
could be made than free texts under state publication. Since 
free texts are right and desirable, it is evident that our rigid, 
cost-concealing system of state publication must give way for 
the introduction of free texts under an open, elastic, less ex- 
pensive and more democratic plan. 

While this accumulation of evidence may not be re- 
garded as demonstrably conclusive in detail, it points very 

11 



clearly to the conclusion that from 1885 to 1913 the 
prices at which books were sold to the people under the 
state publication plan were on the whole no less than 
prices at which they might have been purchased from 
publishers. In addition, the people paid the state $812,- 
354, for it must not be forgotten that they mere paying 
for publishing the boohs as well as for the boohs them- 
selves. 

The present free textbook law in California is different 
from that of any other state. In other states the local 
community buys the books and distributes them to pupils. 
In California the state bears the whole expense, including 
transportation, leaving to school boards only the work of 
distribution to pupils, and the cost is paid out of direct 
appropriations from the state treasury. 

In the administration of State Printer F. W. Richard- 
son, the prices of books were twice reduced, once just 
before and once just after the law was enacted providing 
for free texts, beginning about January 1, 1913. The 
prices fixed after the enactment of the free textbook law 
may be regarded as nominal, for it is admitted that they do 
not cover all the costs of publication. It makes very 
little difference to the people what these prices are, since 
the state provides pupils in the public schools with books 
free of cost. The few books that are sold are used by 
pupils in private schools and by that small number of 
pupils in public schools who want books of their own. 

The arguments sometimes offered in favor of the plan of 
state publication of school books in California are very 
misleading. While Mr. Richardson was State Printer and 
a year before the time when he was elected State Treasurer, 
there appeared in his paper, the Berkeley Gazette* for Oc- 

* See also the report of P. W. Richardson, Superintendent State 
Printing-, dated Oct. 4, 1913. 

12 



tober 6, 1913, an article in which it is claimed that by his 
efficient management of the state textbook business he had 
saved to the state from January 1, 1913, to October 1, 
1913, the sum of $265,477.89. The following extract from 
this article contains the figures used in that argument: 

During the nine months from January first to October 
first, 1,231,681 schoolbooks were distributed from the Cali- 
fornia Printing Office. The table below shows the state's 
manufacturing cost plus royalty, as against the catalogue list 
price of the book companies to dealers: 

State's Mfg. Cost Book Company 

Name of Book Plus Royalty Catalogue Price 

Primer $7,972.35 $17,007.68 

First Reader 7,609.46 16,793.28 

Second Reader 7,737.30 18,053.70 

Third Reader 9,085.50 20,190.00 

Fourth Reader 10,722.19 27,259.80 

Fifth Reader 9,886.67 30,640.50 

Speller— One 11,477.14 19,637.00 

Speller— Two 8,836.70 19,637.10 

First Arithmetic 10,983.87 22,613.85 

Advanced Arithmetic 17,200.00 41,280.00 

New Lessons— One 20,857.54 42,470.10 

New Lessons— Two 17,657.25 42,377.40 

Introductory History ..... 10,385.86 20,431.20 

Brief History 11,405.35 28,092.00 

Introductory Geography 11,558.98 20,398.20 

Advanced Geography 15,634.53 33,048.60 

Primer Hygiene 8,466.34 19,920.80 

Civics 10,717.50 26,793.75 

Total $219,691.95 $485,169.84 

Book Company Price $485,169.84 

State Printing Cost 219,691.95 

$265,477.89 

This table shows the cost of manufacturing state schoolbooks 
at the California State Printing Office, under the administra- 
tion of State Printer Friend W. Richardson, and the price 
at which the same books are sold by the book companies to 
dealers. A full set of books manufactured by the State of 

13 



California, including royalties, costs $4.61, while the same set 
costs $10.42 when purchased from the book companies. 

Co. 

Mfg. Mfg. Cost List 

Name of Book Cost Royalty and Royalty Price 

Primer $0,102 $0,048 $0.15 $0.32 

First Reader 097 .048 .145 .32 

Second Reader 0975 .0525 .15 .35 

Third Reader 12 .06 .18 .40 

Fourth Reader 146 .09 .236 .60 

Fifth Reader 152 .09 .242 .75 

Speller— One 107 .025 .132 .25 

Speller— Two 11 .025 .135 .30 

Elementary Arithmetic 1175 .0525 .17 .35 

Advanced Arithmetic 16 .09 .25 .60 

New Eng. Less. 1 1535 .0675 .221 .45 

NewEng.Less.il 16 .09 .25 .60 

Introductory History 155 .15 .305 .60 

Brief History 256 .15 .406 1.00 

Introductory Geography 25 .09 .34 .60 

Advanced Geography 465 .15 .615 1.30 

Hygiene 11 .06 .17 .40 

Civics 175 .125 .30 .75 

Writing, Book 1 032 .01 .042 .06 

Writing, Book II 032 .01 .042 .06 

Writing, Book III 032 .01 .042 .06 

Writing, Book IV 032 .01 .042 .06 

Writing, Book V 032 .01 .042 .06 

Books VI, VII and VIII * .. ... .18 



$4.61 $10.42 
* California Writing Books combine eight books in five. 

This article is not only misleading in its general import, 
but at some points it is absolutely in error. Note the fol- 
lowing necessary corrections: 

1. The article gives as the cost of the books to the 
state under the plan of state publication, the manufactur- 
ing cost plus the royalty, that is, the price that the deal- 
ers pay for books on the cars at Sacramento. It com- 
pares these prices with the publisher's list prices, that is, 
the prices at which publishers agree to sell single books, 

14 



whereas it is a well-known fact that publishers regularly 
give dealers or school boards a discount of 20 per cent, 
from list prices, and that in the case of a state adoption 
they grant a discount of 25 per cent, from list prices, and 
pay cost of delivery to the dealers. In this case the dis- 
count alone amounts to $121,292.46, and the item desig- 
nated as the "Book Company price" should be reduced 
by that amount. 

2. There is misrepresentation of the publisher's retail 
prices, as given in the column headed "Co. List Price." 
The Fifth Reader should be listed at 60 cents instead of at 
75 cents; the Advanced Geography at $1.00 instead of 
$1.30; the Writing books at 5 cents each instead of at 6 
cents each. This correction makes a difference of 50 cents 
in the sum of the column. 

3. The statement of the "manufacturing cost and roy- 
alty" does not include the total cost, but only certain items 
arbitrarily chosen to represent that cost. It takes no 
account of the interest on the investment in the printing 
plant and revolving fund, of the depreciation of the plant, 
and of the salaries of the State Printer and other officers. 
Every business man knows that these three items — inter- 
est, depreciation and salaries — constitute a large part of 
the expense of a business. 

4. The article takes no account of the fact that the 
mechanical make-up of the books printed by the State of 
California is very inferior in quality and that any pub- 
lisher, if permitted to furnish such books to the state, 
would gladly reduce his prices very considerably. 

When these four points are taken into consideration, 
the saving of $265,000 claimed in the article quoted is 
very greatly diminished. The first point reduces it by 
more than $121,000 outright, and the second, third, and 

15 



fourth points may fairly be assumed to do away with the 
balance. Indeed, that there is no saving at all, even un- 
der the newest, lowest prices at which the State Printer 
claims to be able to manufacture the books is clearly indi- 
cated by the following summary of cost and returns since 
January 1, 1913. 

It is a matter of record that the appropriations made 
for the manufacture of textbooks since January 1, 1913, 
and the assets in cash and books, April 1, 1915, are as 
follows : 

Books on hand Jan. 1, 1913 $72,451.79 

Cash in School Book Fund, appropriated Feb. 

4, 1913 155,803.66 

Appropriated from state, Feb. 3, 1913 10,000.00 

Appropriated from state, June 9, 1913 500,000.00 

$738,255.45 $738,255.45 

Cash on hand April 1, 1915 $247,317.42 

Books on hand April 1, 1915 89,566.04 

$336,883.46 336,883.46 

Net cost of books between Jan. 1, 1913, and April 1, 1915. .$401,371.99 

This figure, $401,371.99, represents only the cost of 
the basal elementary textbooks listed above, for in the 
State of California supplementary readers, library books, 
and high school textbooks are not provided by the State 
Printer. Now it is a fact well known among school men, 
that the cost of supplementary readers, library books, 
and high school textbooks amounts to from one-third to 
one-half of the total expenditure for textbooks. But, 
according to a recent report of the United States Bureau 
of Education, the average annual expense for school books 
per pupil enrolled in the public schools of the United 
States is $0,783. According to the same authority, in 

16 



1912-13 the schools of California enrolled 446,916 pupils. 
The annual expense for school books should be, therefore, 
about $350,000, and for two years about $700,000. De- 
ducting from this $700,000 the estimated amount which 
has been paid to publishers for high school books, supple- 
mentary readers and library books, we find that the cost 
during the two-year period would have been, had the 
basal books for the elementary grades been purchased 
direct from the publisher, between $350,000 and $466,000, 
say $400,000. This amount is slightly less than the State 
of California spent from January 1, 1913, to April 1, 
1915, and it indicates that even during this period, the 
period of supposed lowest cost in the history of the proj- 
ect in California, there has been no saving over the cost 
that would have been incurred had the books been pur- 
chased direct from the publishers. Moreover, in this 
statement no account is taken of the interest on the enor- 
mous investment for state publication or of the fact that 
the books used are much inferior in quality to those which 
the publisher would have supplied at no greater cost. 

We desire to be absolutely fair toward the project of 
state publication and to draw no inferences that are not 
warranted by facts. We believe, however, that the evi- 
dence presented in the preceding pages shows beyond the 
shadow of a doubt that the textbooks published by the 
state have cost the State of California a great deal more 
than they would have cost had they been purchased from 
publishers. We fail to find any ground whatever for the 
"belief" expressed in a bulletin issued by State Superin- 
tendent Edward Hyatt, in July, 1915, in which he says: 

We believe that the state is getting its service of text- 
books at a saving of at least 25 per cent., everything con- 
sidered, over what it would cost if given to private publishers 
in the regular way. 

17 



Apparently this statement is based upon a comparison 
of the so-called "cost and selling prices at Sacramento" 
and the publisher's list prices of the same books. Taken 
by itself, this comparison is as misleading and fallacious 
in its import as the article in the Berkeley Gazette, previ- 
ously discussed, except that apparently there is no mis- 
quotation of publisher's prices. Mr. Hyatt acknowledges, 
however, that 

the comparison is not quite fair perhaps, in that some 
of the overhead expense, as the salaries of some managers 
and editors, the cost of exploiting, the interest and deprecia- 
tion of plant, the losses by unsuccessful books, is not included 
in reckoning the California costs. 

This is just the point at which the arguments of the 
supporters of state publication break down. They do not 
honestly take account of all the cost factors. It will 
certainly require a fuller, fairer and more convincing 
statement of figures and facts than that given in the Ga- 
zette article or in the State Superintendent's bulletin to 
commend state publication to the man who thinks. In 
the light of available facts and the testimony of prominent 
officials, the cost of state publication in California now 
stands condemned so far as expense is concerned. 

Moreover, it should not be forgotten that the state is 
still paying, or rather losing, the interest on the $812,- 
354 that it appropriated and lost between 1885 and 1913, 
and that for nearly thirty years it has done its school 
children the great injustice of requiring them to use text- 
books some of which were inferior in content, and all of 
which were very inferior in mechanical make-up. 

The attitude of thoughtful California people towards 
the present law is expressed in the following editorial that 
appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle for August 4, 
1914. 

18 



OUR FREE TEXTBOOKS 



We Are Having a Costly Experience, From Which We 

Should Learn 

The experience of California covers about all forms of pro- 
viding and distributing school textbooks, from the go-as-you- 
please plan with which we began business to the adoption of 
a uniform series by a legislature which knew nothing about 
the matter and cared less, and thence through county and 
city independent adoptions to state uniformity in the use of 
books written by local educational lights at so much a month, 
rewritten by a "literary proofreader and editor in chief," 
and then printed at the State Printing Office and sold at 
"cost," which was something more than books of the same size 
were sold for elsewhere, after having been purchased from the 
wicked and notorious book ring. 

Then, at the demand of the outraged teachers, we dumped 
the entire lot of home-produced texts as junk and entered 
into contracts with the "book ring"— there isn't any book ring 
that we know of, but that is what they call it— to rent plates 
of standard textbooks and print them at the State Printing 
Office on a royalty. But the "cost" would not go down. The 
people, having decided that they were unable to elect a 
State Printer to suit them, made the office appointive, and 
agreed to distribute the books free. 

The present State Printer, not being inclined to steal, did 
greatly reduce the cost, or rather the alleged cost, of the 
books — state costs do not consider cost and depreciation of 
pl an t_but it was no saving to the State, for, under free dis- 
tribution, the number of books called for was several times 
greater than had ever been used before, whereby the pub- 
lishers whose plates were being used profited mightily. 

The distribution of books last year was a scandal. For that 
not the State Printer was to blame, but the educational ad- 
ministration and "the People." It is evident that, although 
the free books were the same that had been used, every young 
one in the state demanded a new book, even if the house was 
full of books which had been purchased. It was a case of a 
unanimous rush of the People to graft on themselves. 

This was permitted by the educational authorities, from the 
state office down. No matter whether the child needed a new 
book or not, he got it, and no questions asked. 

No records of use are kept. No books are turned back 
when the pupils have done with them. Books covering several 
years' work are issued when the pupil first needs them, and 
are worn out, even by good honest usage before the pupil has 
finished the grades where they are used. 

But there is no record to show whether they are used hon- 

19 



estly or not, which makes it certain that they will not be so 
used. If a book is lost, the child apparently gets another. 
There is probably no instance of a book having been used 
by one child and passed down in fair order to a younger one 
of the same family, as was done in the bad old days when each 
family bought its own books. 

It is stated that there is absolutely no record of what be- 
comes of the books after they pass into the maw of the educa- 
tional system. And the taxpayers foot the bills. No matter. 
Nobody loves the taxpayer any more. 

It is said that this year the demand for books is much less 
than that of last year — thus far. In fact, but about one-third 
as great. Considering the number given away last year, one- 
tenth the number should be sufficient this year — and would 
be, if the parents had to buy them. 

So long as the state gives away school textbooks, ordinary 
prudence would suggest a pretty severe method of accounting 
for those in use. 

Georgia. — In August, 1913, the General Assembly of 
Georgia appointed a Joint Commission of Eight 

to inquire into and report as soon as practicable on the 
reasonableness of the present price of school books, and 
inquire into the prices of books used elsewhere, and also as 
to the practicability of the State furnishing school books for 
use in the public schools at cost of publication. 

The essential points in the printed report of this Com- 
mission are as follows: 

1. The cost of a complete set of the required basal school 
books used in the grades below the high school in twenty- 
one states having uniform textbook adoption was found 
to be as follows : 

Alabama $9.85 Nevada $10.65 

Arizona 9.95 New Mexico 10.42 

Florida 10.10 N. Carolina 8.97 

Georgia 7.90 Oklahoma 8.20 

Idaho 10.09 Oregon 9.52 

Indiana 5.85 S. Carolina 8.68 

Kansas 5.57 Tennessee 9.09 

Kentucky 8.82 Texas 11.83 

Louisiana 9.94 Utah 17.41 

Mississippi 9.54 Virginia 9.79 

Montana 10.65 W. Virginia 11.97 

20 



The considerable discrepancy apparent in the total cost 
of books in the various states is explained by the fact that 
the list of books adopted in some states is much more 
extensive than that in others. An examination of these 
lists shows that the cost per book is almost exactly the 
same. 

2. Consideration of the school book situation in Cali- 
fornia resulted in the following conclusions: 



A — The cost to the parent of the books made by California, 
all things considered, has not been, upon an average, cheaper 
than the Georgia texts; 

B — It is only just to state that there has always been 
considerable question, expressed, sometimes even by the Cali- 
fornia people themselves, as to the quality of their books; 

C — It is beyond doubt true that these California texts are 
inferior from the standpoint of paper, print and binding — 
this fact is apparent even to the careless observer. 

Even now, with all the experience of that State and with 
the best efforts of the most successful State Printer they have 
ever before secured, F. W. Richardson, the basal books for 
the public schools do not seem to be able to be placed in the 
hands of the children of California much cheaper than with 
us, to say nothing whatever of the salaries of the officials, the 
enormous sum invested in the printing plant, and the waste 
of unsatisfactory books which have been made and thrown 
away. . . . The prices (cost of books) do not take into 
consideration the deterioration of the plant, interest on money 
invested and possibly some of the salaries of officials, etc.; 
neither do patrons have the benefit of exchange price. It is 
proper to state that California has adopted free text book 
legislation. This does not alter the fact, however, that the 
expense is the same and must be defrayed by the taxpayer, 
even if it is removed from his shoulders under another name. 



3. Consideration of the schoolbook situation in Kansas 
resulted in the following conclusion: 

From the situation in this State it is difficult to secure 
much argument, as yet at least, to authorize the creation of a 
printing plant and the publication of school books by the 
State. 

21 



4. To test the question of manufacturing cost, the 
Georgia Commission requested bids from several printing 
establishments for the printing and binding of five books, 
which presumably they would have been willing to accept 
for use in their schools. The bids submitted were as fol- 
lows: Primer, 12 to 121/2 cents; Elementary Arithmetic, 
20 to 23% cents; Reader, Book V, 22 to 22% cents; 
Copy Books, 5 to 7 cents each. 

These prices show that it would be quite impossible to 
make any saving to the state under state publication. It 
should be kept in mind that these prices are for paper, 
printing, and binding only, and do not include any charge 
for author's royalty, local dealer's profits, cost of distri- 
bution, transportation charge, etc. 

It is particularly interesting here to note that the Geor- 
gia Commission, in asking for prices from printers who 
were, of course, anxious to do the work, received bids for 
paper, printing, and binding alone which were far in ex- 
cess of the retail prices of similar books in Canada, as the 
following comparison shows: 

Bid to Ontario 

Commission retail price 

Primer $.12 to $.125 $.04 

Elementary Arithmetic ... .20 to .235 .10 

Reader, Book 5 22 to .225 .16 

Copy Books, each 05 to .07 .02 

This comparison confirms the statement made in an 
early part of this paper that the conditions in Canada 
are so different from those in the United States as to 
render price comparisons practically worthless. 

5. With regard to the Ontario books, the Commission 
says: 



Without saying anything as to the quality of these books, 
although educational experts have been practically a unit in 
pronouncing them inferior to our own texts, it is a fact easily 
ascertained that they are able to be sold at so low a price be- 
cause of two reasons: First, a part of the expense is borne 
by the Government, and second, another part by the depart- 
ment store for the sake of the advertising. 

6. The summarized conclusions of the Commission are 
as follows: 

A — Compared with the prices paid for similar books in 
other States in this country, the cost in Georgia is not only 
reasonable but actually considerably less than the average 
paid in the other forty-seven commonwealths of this Union. 

B — The California plan, which involves the purchase and 
equipment of a printing plant, managed by State officials, for 
the purpose of printing State school books, does not appear 
to be desirable for Georgia. 

C — We would not recommend the publication of our school 
texts by the Ontario plan. 

Six of the eight members of the Commission agreed to 
the first two of these conclusions. One member, who was 
absent on account of illness, did not sign the report; a 
second presented a minority report concerning point C, 
and in its place recommended: 

that the State Department of Education be authorized to 
rent or lease plates and manuscript and print one other text 
[besides one of "local coloring"] such as may be deemed ad- 
visable, of the common and high school books, through com- 
petitive bids by publishers. 

A third member of the Commission, who, to judge from 
the printed Report, is more politician than educator, 
presented a minority report in which he maintained, though 
without presenting evidence, that it would be possible for 
the state to secure satisfactory texts at prices much lower 
than those previously paid. 

The bill providing for state publication in Georgia 
was defeated. 

23 



Kansas. — Previous to the year 1913 there existed in 
Kansas a law which provided for state uniformity in ele- 
mentary school books and which fixed a maximum price 
to be paid for the same. Because of this maximum price 
limit publishers often found it impossible to offer their 
best books, and consequently the schools were compelled 
to use books of inferior quality. 

In 1913 a law was enacted 

creating a state schoolbook commission with power to 
acquire by purchase or by condemnation proceedings the 
ground necessary on which to erect building or buildings 
additional to the present state printing plant, to construct 
buildings thereon, to purchase necessary machinery, type 
and other printing and binding material to print and bind 
school books, to procure copyrights for same, or to contract 
for the right to publish said school books, on a royalty basis, 
and to provide for the preparation, publication, purchase, 
sale and distribution of a state series of school textbooks at 
cost, making appropriations therefor and providing penalties 
for the violation of this act and repealing all acts and parts 
of acts in so far as they conflict or are inconsistent with this 
act. 

The most significant provisions of this law are as fol- 
lows: 

The Commission consists of seven members: the State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, the President of the 
State Normal School, the President of the State Agri- 
cultural College, the President of the State Board of 
Agriculture, the State Printer, and two other persons to 
be appointed by the Governor. The Commission employs 
as secretary, textbook expert and executive officer of the 
Commission, an outside person whose salary shall not 
exceed $2,000 per year. The Commission shall "write, 
select, compile, or cause to be written, or compiled, or 
purchased" elementary textbooks. When a book has been 
authorized and published by the Commission it shall be 

24 



used exclusively. The use of supplementary books is for- 
bidden. The price of a book shall be based upon the State 
Printer's estimate of its cost, including the cost of mate- 
rial, labor, copyrights, royalty, authorship, and other 
necessary expenses. There shall be appropriated out of 
the state treasury $50,000 for additions to the state 
printing plant, $25,000 to pay authors, artists, com- 
pilers and stenographers and to purchase copyrights and 
other supplies, $50,000 to be used as a revolving fund for 
the purchase of paper, printer's and binder's material 
and for labor, $2,000 for a contingent fund, $2,000 for 
the Secretary's salary, and $1,000 for the expenses of 
the Commission from July 1, 1913, to July 1, 1915. 
There is a fine of from $25 to $100 for using textbooks 
contrary to the provisions of this Act — for example, for 
using supplementary books. 

It is now two years since this law was enacted. In the 
meantime a Primer, a History of Kansas and a collection 
of Classics for the eighth grade have been published un- 
der the law.* 

The Primer was prepared by a local author. Artists 
were employed to illustrate it at a cost of about $2,000. 
The book was edited by the secretary of the commission, 
assisted by a former school book man who had been act- 
ively interested in securing the passage of the law. The 
author is reported to have said that in the Primer as 
finally published she scarcely recognized her own work. 
Complete copyright privileges were purchased outright 
from the author at a cost of $2,000. The Primer is sold 
at fourteen cents. A casual examination shows poor print- 
ing and binding, to say nothing of more essential qualities. 



* Since this statement was written we are informed that two 
other books have been published, an Elementary Agriculture pre- 
pared by two professors in the Agricultural College at the request 
of the State, and a Geometry printed from rented plates. 

25 



The History of Kansas was written by a local county 
superintendent. The work was purchased by cash pay- 
ment of $3,500 to the author, $500 of this amount to 
be spent for revision and editing. As accepted by the 
commission, it was thought to be too crude for publication, 
and it was edited by one or more professors in one of the 
higher educational institutions of the state. In paper, 
printing and binding there is much to be desired. The 
illustrations are particularly unsatisfactory. The book 
is sold for twenty- two cents. 

The book of Selections for the eighth grade was edited 
by the secretary of the commission and by a professor 
of English in the State Agricultural College. The selec- 
tions are standard, but the book is poorly printed and 
bound. It sells for eighteen cents. 

The State Printer reports the cost of these books as 
follows : * 

Cost 
PRIMER-— Edition, 80,000. per copy 

Manuscript ($2,000), illustrations, engraving and 

electrotyping $4,731.75 

Distributed over 200,000 $0.0236587 

Composition 409.32 

Distributed over 200,000 .0020493 

Press work $ 550.31 

Binding 2,118.92 

2,669.23 

Distributed over 80,000 .0333654 

Paper stock $1,955.18 

Binding stock 1,894.38 

3,849.56 
Distributed over 80,000 .0481195 

$0.1071929 
Cost of distributing to dealers .01 

, Total $0.1171929 

Price to dealers .12 



* The Kansas Teacher," March, 1915. The amounts paid for 
the manuscripts, $2,000 for the Primer and $3,500 for the Kansas 
History are not definitely given in the State Printer's report. 

26 



Cost 
KANSAS HISTORY— Edition, 40,000. per copy 

Manuscript ($3,500), illustrations, engraving and 

electrotyping $3,998.34 

Distributed over 100,000 $0.0399834 

Composition 513.75 

Distributed over 100,000 .0051375 

Press work $ 358.20 

Binding 1,627.96 

1,986.16 

Distributed over 40,000 .0496540 

Paper stock $1,429.27 

Binding stock 935.09 

2,364.36 
Distributed over 40,000 .0591090 

$0.1538839 
Cost of distributing to dealers .015 

Total $0.1688839 

Price to dealers •%% 



Cost 
EIGHTH GRADE CLASSICS— Edition, 25,000. per copy 

Copyrights, etc $ 181.00 

Distributed over 60,000 $0.0030167 

Composition and stereotype 1,036.84 

Distributed over 60,000 .0172866 

Press work $ 241.05 

Binding 1,057.68 

1,298.73 

Distributed over 25,000 .0519492 

Paper stock $1,024.47 

Binding stock 597.41 

1,621.88 
Distributed over 25,000 .0648752 

$0.1371277 
Cost of distributing to dealers .02 

Total $0.1571277 

Price to dealers »18 

27 



It will be noted that the cost of these books as given 
in the above estimates is contingent upon the sale of con- 
siderable numbers— 200,000 Primers, 100,000 Histories 
and 60,000 Classics. If the experience of California 
should be repeated, however, and these books should be 
discarded as unsatisfactory before the estimated numbers 
are sold, the cost of those manufactured will be corre- 
spondingly increased and the first cost of copyright and 
plates, which is always a relatively large item, will be al- 
most a total loss. 

It will be noted also that the estimate includes no state- 
ment of overhead charges — that is, interest on the invest- 
ment, depreciation of plant and plates, salaries, storage, 
insurance, postage, official printing, contingent fees, etc. 
Interest on the investment, to date about $230,000, at six 
per cent, is $13,000 annually. The other items probably 
amount to at least $17,000 per year, making a total of 
$30,000, which sum must certainly be included in an ade- 
quate statement of cost to the state. 

Let it be said again that it is difficult, if not impossible, 
to secure an adequate and accurate statement of the cost 
of books under the plan of state publication, but it is un- 
doubtedly much greater than would appear from any 
statement that is based upon royalty and manufacturing 
charges alone. The State of Kansas may be paying a 
little more or a little less for the three books named above 
than it would pay for similar (but better) books provided 
under the competitive plan of publication. Whether the 
cost is a little greater or a little less is relatively unim- 
portant. The farmers and business men of Kansas are 
wisely demanding the newest and the most approved ma- 
chinery with which to conduct their business, and so long 
as the difference in cost is not great, certainly there is 
no argument for forcing upon the schools of Kansas books 



which are inferior either in content or in mechanical 
features. 

When the law of 1913 was passed there was a practi- 
cally unanimous sentiment among the school people of the 
state and a strong feeling among many others that the 
whole question should be thoroughly investigated for two 
years before positive action was taken. This proposition 
was voted down, however, and the law was enacted in the 
form indicated above. The people generally have been 
dissatisfied with it and apparently it has not worked out 
as well as its supporters expected, for the Legislature 
of 1915 amended the law of 1913 at several points, chief 
among which are that the Commission shall "as soon as 
and when practicable, print, publish, or provide for the 
publication of a complete series of school textbooks" in- 
cluding high school texts ; they shall provide by adoption 
for such books as they "find it impossible or impracticable 
to print or publish ;" the use of supplementary books ap- 
proved by the Commission is permitted. 

It is evident that this amendment of 1915 corrects some 
very serious defects in the law of 1913, in that it provides 
for the use of supplementary books and for the adoption of 
books in cases in which it is found "impracticable to print 
or publish them." It remains to be seen whether the state 
will persist in its original purpose to publish its school 
books or whether it will find adoption from the open field 
the wiser plan. 

It will be seen from the foregoing account of the expe- 
rience of California and Kansas that two methods or de- 
grees, so to speak, of state publication of school books 
have been tried in these states. 

Under the first method the state, through a properly 
constituted commission, selects and employs the author 
or editor, usually someone of local importance, to write 

29 



a book to order. It is then printed and bound at the 
state printing establishment and afterward sold to pupils 
at cost price or furnished to them free by the state. The 
early California books and the Kansas books (Primer, 
History of Kansas and Selections) were made in this way. 

Under the second method the plates of a book belonging 
to an individual or publishing house are rented and the 
book is printed and bound at the state printing establish- 
ment. Most of the books used in California are now made 
in this way. Some publishers refuse to rent plates. 

To the experience of California, Georgia, and Kansas 
there may be added certain general considerations con- 
cerning the cost of books when manufactured in large 
quantities in a well equipped plant. 

The uninitiated do not realize the great difference per 
book in the manufacturing cost when books are made in 
large quantities in well equipped printing and binding 
plants. The initial cost for editorial work, printing plant, 
type-setting, and plates is heavy, and practically the 
same whether few or many books are made. The saving 
comes in spreading out this initial expense over a large 
number of copies printed and bound in large orders. This 
is just what the publisher does when he has a book that is 
widely used in different parts of the country. He prints 
many times the total number required for a single state, 
thereby making a great saving in the cost of stock, print- 
ing and binding over the best that a state can do. As a 
concrete illustration we may cite the fact that a certain 
publisher recently used 366 tons of paper in printing one 
order for 400,000 copies of two textbooks, thereby effect- 
ing a saving of about 7.3 per cent, of the total cost over 
what it would have cost to print these books in different 
successive orders of 20,000 copies each. The difference 
between the manufacturing cost in small quantities and in 

30 



large quantities sometimes constitutes the whole of the 
publisher's profit. 

Moreover, work can be done better and more cheaply 
in well equipped plants. It is an easy matter for a state 
to spend $200,000 on a printing plant to supply books 
that would cost not more than that amount annually in 
the open market, but it is very expensive to do so. Econ- 
omy in production consists in having the best machinery 
and using it to the limit. If a state printing establishment 
is to do satisfactory work it must have this machinery, 
but it cannot keep it busy, hence there is a loss. The large 
appropriations asked for by state printing offices are 
usually needed to keep them up to date, but they are 
expensive to the state. It is for this reason that most 
publishing houses do not print and bind their own books. 
So far as the amount of their business is concerned, many 
of these publishing houses are in about the same position 
as the average state, and the fact that they find it more 
profitable to buy their printing in the open market from 
well-equipped plants than to maintain their own printing 
plant for the relatively small amount of business that they 
do is the strongest kind of evidence that the state cannot 
save money by printing its own textbooks. Only a few 
of the very large publishers who have business many times 
that of any one state have found it profitable to conduct 
their own printing plants. 

Service 

Turning now to the question of service, what do we find 
under the plan of publication by the state? 

1. The books produced are inferior mechanically. It is 
scarcely to be expected that as good material results would 
be obtained by a state printer who holds his position by 
political appointment or by election as would be obtained 

31 



by publishing houses working in strong competition and 
with a professional and business ambition to produce the 
best possible results at the lowest cost. The facts clearly 
bear out the expectation. Even in Ontario, where from 
the point of view of economy the plan seems to work best, 
the books used are patently inferior. In California there 
has always been complaint on this score ; often it has 
been serious. In the words of State Printer Young (Re- 
port 1886-1888, p. 13), "the volumes fell apart after 
very little use, and the complaint against them was uni- 
versal." An interesting illustration is found in the re- 
cent remark of a prominent educator of California to a 
representative of a publishing company, "Your Geog- 
raphies are the best in the world, but why do you bind 
them so poorly?" He had forgotten for the moment that 
the Geographies used in California are printed from the 
publisher's plates and bound under the direction of the 
State Printer. In the investigation of this subject by the 
Georgia Commission in 1914 it was clearly brought out 
that textbooks used under the plan of state publication 
are much inferior to those provided under the other plan. 
The mechanical make-up of the three books manufactured 
by Kansas is not worthy of the great modern Sunflower 
State. It belongs to the period of the ox-team and the 
sod house. The marked inferiority of paper, printing 
and binding of books published by the state when com- 
pared with those made under the competitive plan is evi- 
dent not only to the expert, but to the casual observer 
as well, and actual comparison is all that is necessary to 
convince the most skeptical. 

2. More often than otherwise the books are inferior in 
content also. In California the first books made by the 
state were soon thrown away because they were so un- 
satisfactory in content. In Kansas — it is too soon to say 

32 



with certainty what will ultimately happen, but if edi- 
torial remarks in the Wichita Beacon for January 23, 
1915, represent the feeling of the thoughtful people of 
the state, it would be safe to hazard a guess. 

THE LITTLE KANSAN'S PRIMER 

Sometime ago the Beacon wrote an analysis of the first 
textbook printed under state publication — that of the History 
of Kansas. The book fell so far short of the educational 
standard which Kansas ought to set that it attracted much 
unfavorable comment, but it is in our schools just the same. 

Now comes the Kansas Primer. The title of it is "The 
Little Kansans Primer." The author or the printer was un- 
certain whether to put the apostrophe after the "n" or after 
the "s," so left it out altogether. 

The illustrations are fairly good. In this respect it is a 
decided improvement over the Kansas history. This is the 
only kind word that can be said about the book. 

• ••••••». 

If you don't believe it, get a copy of the book and examine 
it for yourself. 

The most convincing part of the Beacon's argument 
is found in following the suggestion to examine the books 
for yourself. 

In cases where authorship or editorship is limited to 
the state in which the plan is being used, inferiority is 
almost sure to result because no state has a monopoly 
of the best authors in all subjects, and if it should have 
one such author, he is not likely to be willing to limit the 
use of his books to one state. Are not the children entitled 
to the use of the best book regardless of the author's 
residence? 

It is safe to say that if the teachers of Kansas were 
free to choose among all the books now available, not one 
of the three made by the state would, in its present form, 
find a place on the list. If a publisher were to put out 
such books under existing conditions of competition, they 

33 



would certainly be a total loss to him. But the sovereign 
State of Kansas, under the present law, permits no com- 
petition; it creates a monopoly in these made-to-order 
books, and thrusts them upon the schools of the state 
regardless of the opinion and wishes of its own teachers 
and in the face of the fact that in any competent and 
unprejudiced court these books would be judged inferior 
both mechanically and pedagogically. 

It is particularly noteworthy that even California has 
found it necessary to fall back upon the resources of pub- 
lishers in order to secure books that are satisfactory in 
content. The first books, made to order by local authors, 
were extremely unsatisfactory, as is shown by the report 
of the Secretary of the State Textbook Commission, 
quoted on page 43. Revised editions of these books 
"failed to meet the requirements of the schools." For sev- 
eral years nearly all the books used in California have been 
printed from plates rented from publishers. The state 
has been unable to develop an acceptable series of texts. 

3. There is likely to be serious delay in delivery of 
books. In California there has been much complaint on 
this score. In the editorial on the California Textbook 
System previously quoted, the writer says on this point: 



Supplementary to the question of exchange lies a question 
of administration that has worried every school official in 
California. We refer to the impossibility, under our present 
system, of getting enough books the first week of school to 
supply all the children. Practically every teacher, principal 
and superintendent in California will bear eloquent testimony 
that never have the children under his charge been able to 
secure all the necessary books the first week of school. At 
such times the newspapers all over the State are voicing the 
complaints of superintendents. The reason for this state of 
affairs is not far to seek. Usually the State Printing Office 
is partly at fault; but even when its skirts are clean, the 
trouble persists, owing to the unwillingness of local dealers to 
order freely for school opening. With cash accompanying all 

34 



orders for State books, with no return privileges, and with 
only a small margin of profit, the dealers dare not take the 
chance of being "stuck." Hence they invariably order light 
and continue to reorder for two or three months. Experience 
has shown the dealers that this is the only safe way. Mean- 
while the schools suffer. Many parents who naturally expect 
to buy books for their children at the time of school opening 
object strenuously later on. Local adoptions (with or without 
free texts) would enable every school in California to be fully 
equipped the first week. How so? Whenever a book is dis- 
placed under local adoptions, the publishers of the new book 
take from the dealers at dollar for dollar all the stock on 
hand. 

Thus protected against loss, dealers have no hesitancy to 
order freely on the estimate which the superintendent or 
principal is always glad to furnish. In free-text territory the 
problem of securing books on time solves itself. To encourage 
boards to order adequately for prospective needs, publishers 
grant a return privilege on the books up to 20 per cent, of the 
original order. 

To this statement may be added the explanation that 
when a publisher is under a $50,000 bond to supply books 
by a fixed date, as he usually is in the case of a large 
adoption, there is not likely to be delay in delivery. 

4. When a book has been made by the state, it is par- 
ticularly difficult to effect a change to another, even though 
that other be much better. When the state has incurred 
the initial cost of preparing and manufacturing a new 
series, it is but natural that the supporters of that series 
should desire to use it as long as possible. If it were 
manufactured by a publishing house, the state would be 
free to change at any time that it seemed desirable to 
do so. 

The importance of occasional changes in textbooks is 
often not appreciated by parents and taxpayers. If books 
must be bought for the children, the introduction of a 
new text may mean to the parent simply the additional 
expense of that book when, from his point of view, an old 
book in the house would do just as well. He does not 

35 



always realize that there are improvements in school books 
as there are in other things. If he is a progressive farmer 
or manufacturer he knows the advantage of up-to-date 
machinery; if a merchant, he knows the value of modern 
methods of serving his customers; if an automobilist, he 
wants the latest machine. It does not always occur to 
him, however, that he may be as ignorant of the best 
things for the school as the teacher is of the newest things 
in his business, and that teachers and pupils want the 
best books for the same reasons that he wants the most 
modern and effective appliances. 

5. State publication sometimes brings the disadvantage 
of being limited to a single text. This limitation to one 
text in one subject is the logical position to take under the 
plan of state manufacture for the sake of the lowest pos- 
sible cost, but it limits tremendously the efficiency of school 
books as educational tools, for in no state is a single 
book likely to be the best for all the conditions existing 
in that state, and the use of only one book is often dead- 
ening in its effect upon pupils. In a recommendation to 
the legislature made by State Superintendent Ross, of 
Kansas, he says: 

An actual incident will illustrate the true situation graph- 
ically. The Supreme Court decision in the supplementary 
book case was handed down on a Saturday. The following 
Monday a little 10-year-old Topeka girl went home from 
school, and in her childish simplicity (thinking that court de- 
cisions should be rendered on what the law ought to be, in- 
stead of what it is), said to her father at the dinner table: 
"Papa, what do you suppose the Supreme Court has done?" 
Her father said: "Why, I don't know — what has it done?" 
"Well, it has just spoiled school," the little girl replied. Then 
she explained that her class had finished their reader and 
were in the midst of one of a very interesting series of little 
"classics" on the industries, this one being on the formation, 
production and uses of coal, when they had been compelled to 
quit because the Supreme Court had said they could not, 
under the law, use any books in their reading class except the 

36 



state-adopted reader." — Advance Sheets from Biennial Re- 
port, Dec, 1914. 

The alternative, namely, the adoption of supplemen- 
tary texts, is practical acknowledgment of the failure of 
the one-book plan. Moreover, if supplementary texts are 
needed — and the best opinion and practice indicate that 
they are — it is pertinent to inquire why, if it is wise for 
the state to publish the basal text in a subject, it would 
not be equally wise for it to publish the supplementary 
texts also. 

General Consequences 

1. At the outset we meet the general objection that 
always prevails against state participation in business en- 
terprises. The function of the state, particularly as it 
is regarded in a democratic country, is to carry on those 
affairs of the people that cannot be trusted to private 
effort. To do that well is quite enough, and nothing else 
should be included in its duties. 

This objection is founded in part on the instinctive de- 
sire of the American people to be governed as little as 
possible, in part on their antipathy to a monopoly even 
though it be a government monopoly, and in part on the 
belief, based on evidence, that government ownership is 
often a failure if all the facts be taken into consideration. 
President A. T. Hadley, of Yale University, says in his 
treatise on Economics: 

"The advantages of intervention on the part of a govern- 
ment are visible and tangible facts; the evil that results from 
such intervention is much more indirect and can only be 
appreciated after close and intensive study." 

In his book entitled Where and Why Public Ownership 
Has Failed, Mr. Yves Guyot, the well-known French econ- 

37 



omist, points out in detail that even in Europe, where the 
people are much more submissive to government control, 
and public ownership has a much better chance of success 
than in the United States, it has not been nearly so suc- 
cessful as its advocates would have the world believe. He 
summarizes the "results of experience" as follows : 

Against a wider extension of public economic responsibili- 
ties nothing but experience stands in the way. But it con- 
demns unreservedly any such extension. From the point of 
view both of the quality and the cost of service, state and 
municipal ownership show incontestible inferiority to private 
enterprise (p. 398). 

Of course, no one condemns the postal service or any 
other service for the government management of which 
there is equally good reason. Where conditions are such 
that satisfactory service requires unified, permanent con- 
trol, as in the case of the postal service, people are willing 
to forego the advantages that free competition might 
bring. But where permanent, monopolistic control is not 
necessary or even desirable, where occasional change is 
advantageous, as in the case of school books, where free 
competition can be relied upon to produce a better prod- 
uct than monopoly, even though it be a government mo- 
nopoly, the spirit of democracy justly resents state in- 
terference. 

2. The plan of state manufacture leaves an open road 
to inefficiency and graft. The California Senate Daily 
Journal for January 29, 1913, contains the following 
statement from the committee appointed to investigate the 
school book situation in that state: 

For many years prior to and at the time this committee 
entered upon the discharge of its duties, under the admin- 
istration of William W. Shannon, Superintendent of State 
Printing, the cost of textbooks, as charged by the State Print- 

38 



ing Office and levied against the school children of this State, 
was grossly excessive and extortionate. 

This situation was due to the manner in which the business 
of the State Printing Office was being and had for years been 
conducted, which was as deplorable as it was astounding, and 
which tolerated a system reeking with fraud and dishonesty. 

The entire business of supplying materials used in the 
publication of state textbooks was, with the active connivance 
of the Superintendent of State Printing, monopolized by four 
favored firms, which thereby profited to the extent of many 
thousands of dollars extorted from the parents and guardians 
of the school children. 

• •••••••• 

The methods pursued in conducting the internal affairs of 
the State Printing Office were as incomprehensible as they 
were ineffective from the standpoint of ordinary business effi- 
ciency and economy. No adequate system of bookkeeping 
was followed; no proper check was kept for the purpose of 
determining whether the materials paid for were in fact fur- 
nished, or were of the character or quality ordered, or con- 
formed to the provisions of the contracts, or from which the 
exact quantity of material that went into any particular job 
could be determined, or what charge should be made against 
any particular book; no accounts were kept showing the cost 
of each particular textbook; certain employees were carried 
on the pay-roll of the State Printing Office not because any 
necessity existed for the services to be rendered by them, but 
to satisfy political and ante-election obligations and promises ; 
an excessive amount of overhead charges and administrative 
expenses of the whole department was charged against the 
publication of school textbooks; an excessive and exorbitant 
cost constantly resulted from the excessive prices paid for 
the materials which entered into the printing and publication 
of these books, and in addition there was a charge for labor 
which should have been charged against other work; an un- 
lawful profit of twenty per cent, was arbitrarily placed upon 
every textbook printed, and last but not least, the vast sums 
collected from the school children and their parents in pay- 
ment for the books were deposited to the credit of the State 
Textbook Fund, only to be withdrawn immediately to satisfy 
the greedy demands of the supply contractors who had 
exercised an effective control over the State Printing Office 
for many years. 

But, it may be said, if graft and inefficiency in the of- 
fices of state printer and state superintendent were elim- 
inated, could not the state provide books more cheaply 

39 



than they are provided through private competition? The 
latter experience of California does not appear to sanction 
this conclusion. Moreover, in the present state of Amer- 
ican industrial efficiency and social and political ethics, 
does not the supposition involve too great a hazard? 

3. Even in cases where there is no attempt at graft in 
high places, and where there is an honest desire for effi- 
ciency, school interests are likely to suffer bcause the 
book business is sure sooner or later to become dependent 
upon political ambition or caprice or emergency. The 
campaign cry for cheaper school books is one that reaches 
many homes, as events in Ontario, California, and Kansas 
show. To lessen the cost of books — whether actually or 
only apparently, it does not matter — is to store up polit- 
ical capital. Political debts must be paid, some of them 
by appointments, and state departments offer a fine field 
for patronage. There come political crises when a change 
of books or of management must be made or must not be 
made regardless of whether it should be made or not. 

Ignorant meddlers cannot always be ignored. For ex- 
ample, in a recent state-adoption campaign a politician 
of some note, who had publicly charged unjust dealings 
in the book business, was called before the State Board 
to give evidence. He was sure there was something wrong, 
but on the witness stand he was utterly unable to sub- 
stantiate, or even to make, any definite charge. There are 
many of his kind, ignorant and ready to make trouble. 

It is an open secret that our great state universities 
suffer at times through the enthusiastic efforts of well- 
meaning but mistaken politicians. Under a system of state 
manufacture of textbooks, the common schools are in 
even greater danger. 

4. The professional spirit of teachers is violated. How 
can it be otherwise when state publication has been under- 

40 



taken and is continued in the face of the almost universal 
opposition of teachers? They feel that by depriving them 
of an opportunity to secure the best books, state publi- 
cation imposes upon them and their work an unnecessary 
handicap. It is surprising that the supporters of state 
publication have not recognized the injury, not to say the 
insult, done to the members of the teaching profession by 
imposing upon them school books which in any professional 
court would be judged inferior in quality. If these teach- 
ers are at all worthy of the responsible positions that they 
occupy as leaders of the rising generation, their indi- 
vidual and professional protest against the products and 
policy of state publication should certainly be heard and 
heeded. 

Nor is there any doubt about the existence of such opin- 
ion. In 1882, at a Convention of the County Superin- 
tendents of California, a report on the feasibility of state 
publication was made, and resolutions were passed the con- 
clusion of which was that 

In consideration, therefore, of all the above facts, we are 
constrained to advise against the state undertaking to print, 
publish, or "provide" any of the school textbooks. 

At the annual meeting of the California State Teachers' 
Association, held in December, 1883, a full report on the 
subject was made and the following prophetic resolution 
adopted : 

Resolved, that in the opinion of this association, the pub- 
lication of school textbooks by the state is inexpedient and 
impracticable, and will if attempted result in great pecuniary 
loss to the state and expensive and unsatisfactory books to 
our schools. 

In the (California) Overland Monthly for July, 1888, 
ex-State Superintendent F. M. Campbell wrote: 

41 



In conclusion, let me say that I am opposed to the state 
going into the business of manufacturing furniture, clothing, 
boots and shoes, cigars or books. That all these things could 
be bought a bit cheaper (if it were true) would not be an 
argument with me. 

The opinion of State Superintendent Ira G. Hoitt, 
written in December, 1890, has already been quoted. See 
page 6. 

In his report, dated December 15, 1892, J. W. Ander- 
son, Superintendent of Public Instruction, says: 

The difficulty incident to securing the services of persons 
fully competent to prepare school textbooks can scarcely be 
imagined except by those who have had experience in such 
work. The making of school textbooks has been reduced to 
a science, and authors fully competent to execute the work 
as it should be done can and do secure greater compensation 
than it is possible for the State Board of Education to give; 
and, inasmuch as they could not do the work themselves, they 
were under the necessity of assigning it to such parties as it 
was possible for them to secure, and whom they considered 
best capable of properly discharging the duties. 

Both the readers and spellers are so defective in what is 
needed by the schools as to require entirely new publication 
instead of revision. The advanced arithmetic also needs re- 
vision, in order to suit it to the wants of the schools. The 
grammar meets with more serious complaint than any other 
books published by the state except the readers and the his- 
tory, and the interests of our schools imperatively demand its 
revision. Much complaint was heard relative to the charac- 
ter of the history of the United States; it is not at all 
suited to the pupils in the classes where it is required to be 
used. The arrangement of the matter is not regarded as 
good, and the style of treating the various topics is abstruse 
to such a degree as to render it very difficult to be compre- 
hended by the pupils. 

In an Historical Review of State Publication of Text- 
books, prepared by Mr. Robert Furlong, Secretary of 
the State Textbook Commission and printed in the Report 
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, dated Sep- 
tember 14, 1906, the writer says: 

42 



The teaching force of the state murmured its dissatisfac- 
tion with the contents of the prescribed books. Crudities, mis- 
statements of facts, and a general want of attractiveness in 
the texts made them difficult for teachers and uninteresting 
to pupils. Evidences of a lack of skill in textbook-making 
appeared in every book that so far had been prepared under 
the system. Quality had not been considered a factor, for 
most of the texts were neither pedagogical nor modern. Quan- 
tity, at first restricted, was later enlarged when the number 
and kinds of books were increased, which fact added mate- 
rially to the cost for school patrons. This latter result was 
especially disappointing to the promoters of state publication 
who had promised great reductions in cost of books. Upon 
the whole, the method of providing children's schoolbooks 
cheaply, to which the people had given emphatic approval by 
engrafting it on the constitution of the state, had in practice 
proved quite unsatisfactory. 

While the revised books were an improvement on those 
that had preceded them in use, they failed to satisfy the re- 
quirements of the schools. Dissatisfaction was heard from 
every classroom. So general did fault-finding become that it 
found open expression in resolutions adopted at nearly every 
institute of teachers and at every convention of superintend- 
ents held in the state. It was repeatedly shown by competent 
judges that in a comparison with texts used in several other 
states, the California books suffered. They were found to be 
inferior in both plan and content, while the mechanical work 
on them reflected no credit on the book-maker's art. 

So far the texts had been compiled by California writers 
who, as authors, were previously unknown. These writers 
employed for the work were doubtless "well qualified persons," 
since the statute directed that they should be so, but evidently 
their high qualifications extended in other directions than in 
the writing of textbooks adapted to California schools. The 
finished products of their skill were not of the "first order of 
excellence," which standard the state had estabttshed for its 
schoolbooks in the act provided for their preparation. Teach- 
ers demanded textbooks in keeping with the state's pro- 
gressive school system. They found their work in the class- 
room hampered because of the inferior texts they were 
compelled by law to use. The effects of this condition in the 
schools, serious as they were, would doubtless have been even 
more disastrous had it not been for a saving provision in the 
law permitting the use of other books to supplement the state 
texts. Boards of education had authority to adopt lists of 
books for supplementary purposes. The names of the best 
elementary textbooks published in the United States soon 
appeared in school manuals, associated with the prescribed 

43 



state publications. It was permissible under the law to pur- 
chase supplemental books with certain funds of a district or 
city. When purchased they belonged to the school library, 
to be used for class-room purposes. Pupils were required to 
buy only the state book in any study, as the supplementary 
books, enough for class use, were furnished at expense of a 
district. In a measure, this method of purchase meant free 
textbooks, since the supplementary books furnished schools 
often outnumbered the state books owned by the pupils. 

In 1915, when an amendment to the Constitution pro- 
viding for the publication of high school textbooks was 
before the California Legislature, a committee appointed 
by the California Council of Education to investigate the 
attitude of the school people of the state regarding the 
proposed amendment reported that at least one hundred 
and fifty letters had been written by high school principals 
to legislators, and they were unanimous in their opinion 
against the amendment, which was afterward defeated. 

In a bulletin issued in July, 1915, the present State 
Superintendent of California, Edward Hyatt, says, con- 
cerning the criticisms of the first twenty years of state 
publication : 

Those in charge of state publication became very uncom- 
fortable over the general clamor. They revised books and 
added to them in vain, and continually they looked for some 
way to improve the matter, to stop the howls. Undoubt- 
edly, if it had not been planted deep in the Constitution 
itself, state publication would have gone by the board during 
this period. 

At a meeting of the National Educational Association 
at San Francisco in August, 1915, one session was de- 
voted to a consideration of textbooks. The discussion, in 
which California educators took a prominent part, was a 
severe arraignment of the state publication system. Al- 
though many California teachers were present, not a voice 
was raised in its defence. The last speaker, Dr. P. P. 
Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, was 

4A 



unsparing in his criticism of any plan that limits the 
choice of textbooks to the authors of a single state and 
that emphasizes financial saving at the expense of educa- 
tional efficiency. The enthusiastic response from his listen- 
ers left no doubt as to their approval of his position. 

In the Journal of Education for January 1, 1914, Mr. 
D. C. McCray reports the sentiment of the Kansas State 
Teachers' Association as follows : 

"We build schoolhouses, equip them with every modern 
convenience, including seats, desks and furnishings. These we 
buy in the open market because the open market is bigger 
and wider than Kansas. We do this with taxes levied on the 
property in the school district. Why should we not go into 
the open market and buy the best schoolbooks and pay for 
them with taxes levied just as we pay for school furniture, 
and make them free to every child in the state? If Kansas 
authors and Kansas printing offices can supply the best books 
at the lowest prices, buy them. But let Kansas compete with 
the open market. The education of our children — the school- 
books that lay the foundation of their lives — is too sacred a 
thing to be discarded for 'sentiment' or for 'cheapness.' The 
best school texts are none too good for Kansas." 

This sentiment was expressed by hundreds of teachers who 
had hoped that in getting away from the evils complained of 
in the sixteen years of state uniformity the legislature would 
consider the better way — district ownership, free textbooks 
and the open market to select from. But this legislature, 
like others that came from the farms on the wave of a poli- 
tical upheaval, was pledged in the platform to pass a law 
providing for the state publication of schoolbooks. Edu- 
cators, teachers, and men high in educational councils came 
here to reason with the members and to beg of them to wait 
two years and in the meantime investigate the California 
system. But these appeals were in vain, state publication 
was in the platform and the platform was the will of the 
people— expressed by less than 400 men constituting the party 
council and all candidates for office. Urging the party coun- 
cil to heed the will of the people were the experts, agitators 
and hopeful authors, with their respective axes to grind. 

Private information concerning opinion in California 
shows that leading educators there regard the state pub- 
lication scheme as a sort of octopus which, although it is 

45 



dragging educational efficiency down into the depths of 
political necessity, nevertheless, survives because of the 
patronage it affords. It maintains its hold in the face of 
the practically universal opposition of the educational 
public — the extra-political educational public — and since 
it cannot be killed, the practical problem is to render it as 
harmless as possible. A similar sentiment prevails in Kan- 
sas, but many are now hoping that under the law of 1915 
adoption from the publishers' lists will take the place of 
local authorship and state manufacture, and that the state 
may be saved both the expense and the humiliation that 
the latter have been found to bring. 

Is it not passing strange that in the face of this uni- 
versal professional attitude on the part of teachers, poli- 
ticians persist in pushing plans for state publication? 
And does it not also provide just ground for criticism 
of the practical efficiency of our American form of gov- 
ernment that professional opinion is so lightly swept aside 
in a matter of so great national importance? It may soon 
become necessary for American teachers to register at 
the polls their protest against this violation of their pro- 
fessional rights, rights which are also the rights and the 
interests of the people and the state.* 

5. Professional authorship and competitive publishing 
enterprise are discouraged. If quality as well as cost of 
product is important, authorship and competitive pub- 
lishing effort should, on the other hand, be encouraged 
and stimulated as much as possible. The laborer is worthy 
of his hire. If the financial rewards of superior author- 
ship are reduced below a certain profitable minimum either 

* In 1915 a bill, providing for state publication of school books, 
was introduced into the Alabama Legislature by the chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Rules. It passed in the Senate, but be- 
fore it came to a vote in the House the school people of the 
state had become aware of its significance and undoubtedly their 
protests were a large factor in its defeat. 

46 



by cutting down royalties or by the limitation of sales by 
state lines, the most competent authors will not find it 
worth while to write school books, and we shall be limited 
to the use of books prepared by mediocre or inferior tal- 
ent. If the state creates a monopoly of school book 
making so as to destroy a reasonable publisher's profit, 
the publishers will leave the field and we shall be deprived 
of the improvements that necessarily come through com- 
petitive private effort. 

Book publishing includes much more than merely print- 
ing and binding. It is an intricate business in which train- 
ing, constructive imagination, experience, and business and 
professional ambition are large factors. Excellence in 
product comes only through expertness in the worker, 
and expertness comes only through years of training. 
To know educational conditions and needs, to know what 
has been done in the world of book making, to have a 
wide acquaintance with authors, to know what constitutes 
a good and attractive book, mechanically considered, and 
how to make it at reasonable cost, to devise methods that 
represent the best modern psychology and pedagogy, to 
have the foresight and constructive genius to plan a book 
that will sell well because it meets existing needs better 
than any other book — these are some of the problems 
that confront author and publisher. How successfully 
they have solved them and how much they have contributed 
to modern educational progress is known only to those 
who have given the matter careful consideration. 

The critical public hears much of the relatively few 
highly successful books that are an educational success 
and that make money for author and publisher. It hears 
little or nothing of the many unsuccessful books into which 
author and publisher have put just as much effort and 
money, but which, the test of trial shows, lacked some 

4-7 



essential but unknown quality necessary to make them a 
success. The publisher does not advertise his school book 
graveyard, but it cannot be hidden from those who are 
interested in reading the inscriptions on its tombstones. 
The publisher experiments in the making of a new book, 
using the best judgment that years of experience and 
training can give and incidentally spending thousands of 
dollars. The public benefits from his failures only a little 
less than from his successes, for it is often extremely worth 
while to know what not to do or how not to do it. If the 
unsuccessful books had been published by the state, the 
schools would have been compelled to use them even after 
they had been found to be unsatisfactory. 

Experience shows that textbooks cannot be made to 
order with any assurance of success; they are an evolu- 
tion. The problems in making them are altogether too 
difficult to be solved offhand by the chance compiler and 
printer who hold their positions not by virtue of adequate 
training and professional ambition, but through some 
lucky turn of the political wheel of fortune ; and the proper 
solution of these problems is of so great importance to 
the educational welfare of the American people that we 
cannot afford to lose or to check the beneficent influence 
of competitive publishing effort, which has undoubtedly 
been the greatest factor in the evolution of the modern 
school book. 

6. State publication emphasizes cost rather than qual- 
ity of education, a radically wrong view so long as the 
cost is not unreasonable. The only argument urged in 
favor of state publication is that it decreases the expense 
for books. That this claim is not well founded is clearly 
shown in the preceding pages. But even if it were true, 
it would not follow that we should not pay the larger 

48 



amount for the sake of securing the better book. Why 
not buy the cheapest clothing, the cheapest food? 

The largest factor in the making of a good school is 
undoubtedly the teacher. The next largest is undoubtedly 
the textbook. A really good teacher will teach well from 
a poor book. A really poor teacher will not teach well 
from any book. But in either case the work will be better 
done if a good book is used, and well qualified teachers are 
not so numerous in American schools that we can afford 
to be satisfied with any but the best books. A good book 
at least gives the pupil a chance. In an article on School- 
book Legislation, Professor J. W. Jenks, the well-known 
economist and educator, says: 

A saving of even fifty cents a year for each pupil, impor- 
tant as it is, is not of such vital consequence as good train- 
ing, and this training, considering the poor preparation of 
many of our teachers, is largely dependent on the text- 
books. {Good Citizenship, p. 229.) 

The human, commonsense way for the parent to con- 
sider this matter is to ask himself the question, "Is this 
good book worth two cents (or twenty cents) more to my 
child this year than that inferior book?" 

Neither is the cost prohibitive. We spend in the United 
States annually for 

Spirituous liquors about $579,000,000, an average of $5.79 per person 

Boots and shoes " 512,000,000 " 

Tobacco " 417,000,000 " 

Bread and bakeries... " 397,000,000 " 

Moving pictures " 275,000,000 " 

Automobiles " 249,000,000 " 

Agricultural imp'm'nts " 146,000,000 " 

Patent medicines " 142,000,000 " 

Confectionery " 135,000,000 " 

Coffee " 100,000,000 " 

Chewing gum " 25,000,000 " 

School books " 17,000,000 " 

The average annual cost of books per pupil enrolled in the public 
elementary and high schools is about $0,783. 

49 



5.12 
4.17 
3.97 
2.75 
2.49 
1.46 
1.42 
1.35 
1.00 
.25 
.17 



With these figures before us we can not well escape the 
conclusion that to choose an inferior school book because 
it is a few cents cheaper, while we spend lavishly for less 
important things, is to "strain at a gnat and swallow a 
camel." 

Conclusion 

I. In California the prices at which books were sold to 
pupils by the state from 1885 to 1913 were in some cases 
lower and in some cases higher than those at which the 
same or similar books might have been secured from pub^ 
lishers, averaging about the same. Since elementary texts 
were made free in 1913, a lower nominal price has been 
fixed for the few books sold to private purchasers, but, 
according to the statement of the State Superintendent, 
this price does not cover the total cost of publication. 

In Kansas the three books published by the state are 
now sold at prices somewhat lower than could be secured 
in the open market for good books, but these prices do 
not represent the total cost to the people of the state, if 
all the expense factors are considered. In no case is lower 
cost to the people proved if all the expense factors are 
taken into account. 

II. The service rendered under the plan of state publi- 
cation is unsatisfactory in that 

1. The books produced are always inferior in mechan- 
ical features. 

2. They are often inferior pedagogic ally. 

3. There is often serious delay in delivery of books. 

4. It is difficult to change to a better book. 

5. Pupils are sometimes limited to the use of a single 
book, supplementary books being barred. 

50 



III. There are serious general objections to the plan 
of state publication in that 

1. The state should engage in no business enterprise 
which can safely be left to private effort. 

2. It provides an easy road to inefficiency and graft. 

3. It subordinates school interests to political emer- 
gencies. 

4». It violates the professional spirit of teachers. 

5. It discourages authorship and competitive pub- 
lishing effort. 

6. It emphasizes cost rather than quality of educa- 
tional equipment. 



51 



IF a state is willing to publish as cheaply as 
possible made-to-order books and impose 
them upon the schools without first testing 
them, it may be possible to do it at slightly 
less expense than would be incurred in buy- 
ing the best approved books from publishers; 
but experience to date shows that in every 
case the result is inferior books, and that 
lower cost is not proved, if all the expense 
factors are considered. 

If the state should experiment with its 
books, as the publisher is compelled to do, 
and should require the use of no book until 
it had been tested and proved successful, the 
cost to the state would be increased to an 
amount greater than that required to purchase 
the best approved books from publishers. 

If the state adopts and prints only books 
that have been tested and proved by the pub- 
lisher, it must pay and it should pay to the 
publisher enough to reimburse him for the 
cost of his experimenting, and to yield him 
a reasonable profit. 

The choice seems to lie between inferior 
books at prices that show no saving when all 
the cost factors are included and the best 
books at prices that permit a fair publisher's 
profit. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 302 775 P 




